Bilvavi Part 6 - Chapter 05 Time & Above Time

Torah comes from the word horaah, which means “a teaching.” Every piece of knowledge we have really teaches us something. This is because “Hashem looked into the Torah and created the world.” Everything which is in the world is rooted in the Torah, and since the Torah is our teachings, everything on this world teaches us something about how to serve the Creator.

A fundamental point which the Baal Shem Tov taught is that all events on this world, as well as movements – even thoughts – teach us something about Avodas Hashem. Let us thus examine a statement of Chazal and see what teaching we learn from it.

Time and Non-Time

The Midrash (Yalkut Shimeoni, Mishlei, 944) states that “All festivals will disappear in the future, but Purim will never disappear.” Some also say that Chanukah will be forever.

Why did Chazal reveal this to us? What is the point of us knowing that we won’t have to keep Yom Tov after Moshiach comes? What will be then will be then; how does this affect us now?

It must be that Chazal are trying to tell us something from this, and we will try to understand it.

Another point regarding this is the following. There is a concept[1] called “Olam, Shanah, Nefesh” – “World, Time and Soul.” This means that everything as we know it takes place in three dimensions: in a place in the world, in a certain time, and in our own soul. If something is in the world, we can find it in time as well, and something which is in a time can also be found in our own soul.

Let’s take the time of Chanukah, for example. Before the miracle of Chanukah, was there such a concept of Chanukah? The time for Chanukah never came into existence yet. There was a point in time in which Chanukah never existed. If so, just like there is a time for Chanukah, so is there a concept in which there is no Chanukah. That point in time, in which there was no Chanukah, is also a point in our own soul. Our soul has in it Chanukah, as well a time in which there is “no Chanukah.”

What does that mean for us? We know what we do with Chanukah; there are many halachos. But what do with the part in our soul that has “no Chanukah” in it?

Chazal (Shabbos 151b) state that the days of Moshiach will be “days in which I (Hashem) have no desire for.” This time has not come yet, but in our own soul, this time can be accessed – the time of Moshiach. (This is because everything that takes place in time also takes place in our soul.)

He Creates World And Destroys Them

In order to fully understand this concept, we need to get to the root of the matter.

This concept is not just with regards to time. It applies as well to all the dimensions in our universe .

Chazal (Beraishis Rabbah 3:7) state that “Hashem builds worlds and destroys them.” Since this takes place in the actual universe, it takes place in our soul as well, because everything that takes place in the world takes place as well in our soul. Therefore, there is a place in our soul in which “Hashem creates worlds and destroys them.”

This is not something that happened only in the past. It is going on even in this present moment: Hashem is creating worlds and destroying them.

With time, we can see this concept more revealed. We have three festivals – Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos. When we were redeemed from Egypt, we received the Yom Tov of Pesach. What happened before we were redeemed from Egypt? There was no Pesach. This shows us that there was a point in time in which there was no Pesach – and this has ramifications with regards to our own soul. Shavuos came about because we received the Torah; if so, before we received the Torah, there was no Shavuos. Sukkos came to us as a remembrance for the sukkah that we put up in the desert; before the desert, there was no Sukkos. All of the three festivals are all a result of a certain event; this shows us that before that event took place, there as a point in time in which there is no Pesach, no Shavuos, and no Sukkos. In the future, all the festivals will disappear. So we find this concept of “no festival” both before it comes into being, as well as after it comes into being – when it disappears in the future.

The same goes for the fact that Hashem builds worlds, and then destroys them. Before Hashem created these worlds, they did not exist, and after He creates worlds, they again cease to exist.

As we mentioned in this chapter, everything is a horaah (teaching) to us, so we must see what all this teaches us when it comes to serving the Creator.

Before Creation

In Shemoneh Esrei we say, “You were before the creation of the world, and You exist after the creation of the world.” What is the point of mentioning that Hashem was around before He created the world?

Simply speaking, it is because we all believe that Hashem always existed, and that nothing precedes Him. Yet the sefarim hakedoshim tell us that there is more to this. Not only is this true about the past, but it still affects us in the present. What does it have to do with us presently? We will soon explain how.

If there was a point in time in which there was no world, then in our own soul as well there is a point that is also “You existed before the creation of the world.”

The post-world state is essentially the fact that the world cannot survive unless Hashem sustains it, as the Nefesh HaChaim writes, that if there would be one second in which there is no Torah study, the entire universe would cease to exist.

Hashem was also around before the world, so there as a pre-world state. This is a point in time in which there is no world, and it is reminiscent of Tisha B’Av, in which it is forbidden to learn Torah.

Two Ways To Connect To Hashem

These words need to first be absorbed by your mind, on an intellectual level. Then they need to be clarified by your soul so that one can connect to Hashem through them.

In the previous chapters, we explained that there is a way to connect to Hashem through one’s “I”, and there is also a way to connect to Hashem when there is no “I”.

The first way, which involves one’s “I”, is one method, and it is rooted in the fact that Hashem also calls Himself “I”, such as “I am Hashem, your G-d.” The “I” of Hashem can be reached through one’s very “I”. This reflects Moshe Rabbeinu, who is the root of the power of da’as in the soul. In every soul, there is a “Moshe Rabbeinu” – the power of da’as. This is when one realizes that his “I” can be used as a tool to reveal the true “I”, Hashem. That is one approach in Avodas Hashem – to use your “I”.

The other approach, which is the more inner method, is to not be involved with your “I”. The source of this approach is that “Hashem came down upon Har Sinai.” Before we received the Torah from Hashem, Hashem first came onto the mountain, and there was total silence in Creation. This came before the Torah, so it is a higher level.

In terms of our soul, in simple words, this relates to us as follows. One way how a person can serve Hashem is through his “I”. Another way, though, is when there is no “I” – when a person focuses just on Ain Od Milvado. With this approach, a person doesn’t work with his I – he instead focuses on the fact there is no I.

If we reflect, we can find this concept in the words of Chazal, that in the future, all the festivals will disappear. This shows us that in order to have a complete connection with Hashem, everything as we know it has to cease – even Yom Tov – so that we can see Ain Od Milvado, how there is absolutely nothing besides for Hashem!

In our current state of affairs, however, we cannot take this path. We definitely must recognize our “I”, because Hashem gave us the Torah to keep. We are thus not saying that our current situation (which is the first way to serve Hashem) isn’t a true way. Both ways are true.

If a person only knows of connection with Hashem through Yom Tov, then although he is connected to Hashem, he is still involved with his “I”. That is why we also need the second way, which is to connect directly with Hashem, with no intermediaries involved.

Lishmah and Shelo Lishmah

We need both ways. We need to connect to our Hashem through our “I”, which reflects how we must begin serving Hashem shelo lishmah (for ulterior motives). Rav Chaim Volozhiner explained that we must start with shelo lishmah because it is impossible for a human being to have entirely pure motives from the start. We cannot skip over our “I”, and we need our “I”. Yet, we have to eventually arrive at lishmah, and this is the goal.

The first stage is shelo lishmah, when we involve our “I.” This can be when we have any reason why we want to serve Hashem – either we want honor, Gan Eden, or the sheer bliss in being close to Hashem. The Mesillas Yesharim (in the chapter about Chassidus) writes that even such a desire is not considered lishmah. Of course, it is a very lofty desire to have, but it is still not lishmah, because it is still about a personal reason.

However, we need this first stage. If a person skips over his “I” and wants to begin with lishmah, like if he sits down to learn Torah entirely lishmah, it’s like heresy! We cannot go against our design. Hashem made people this way, that we have personal interests. No one can deny this, and Hashem willed it this way that we should be like this. If Hashem would have wanted us to immediately begin serving Him lishmah, He would have made it possible for us to do so, but He didn’t. That is not the way we were designed. So no one is able to start out lishmah.

So on one hand, we need to be aware that we have an “I” and work with it to reach closeness to Hashem, and this is the shelo lishmah aspect that we need. On the other hand, our goal is to reach lishmah, which is to forget about our “I” and instead cling directly to Hashem, with no ego involved whatsoever. We need both stages.

We are repeating this important point, because if one tries to ignore his “I” and begin by nullifying himself, he will come to ignore halachos in the Torah chas v’shalom, because he has no “I” to do mitzvos with! Chas v’shalom that one should ever stray from keeping the Torah. That is why we must first work with our “I”, and not attempt to nullify our “I” too soon.

The Difference Between Today and the Time of Moshiach

The period which we are in, which will last for 6,000 years, is a period in which we are mainly involved with shelo lishmah. This is because in the current state of affairs, our body is considered the main thing, with our soul being regarded as something hidden in us. Lishmah is a very hidden point in our current situation. But in the future, in the time of Moshiach, lishmah will become more revealed, because the soul will be considered the main thing, with the body being secondary. This is explained in sefer Daas Tevunos.

In either case, there is always shelo lishmah involved. In the future it will be secondary to lishmah, but it will still exist.

Before the sin of Adam, there was no such thing as Yom Tov. Had Adam not sinned, he would have gone straight to eternal bliss, and there would be no need for Yom Tov. The sin created a need for Yom Tov – the need to connect to Hashem through something else, unlike before the sin, when there was nothing but direct connection with Hashem. However, deep in our soul there is a point that remained unaffected by the sin, and thus there is a part in us which can have a direct connection with Hashem, and it doesn’t depend on any certain time for this. This is a concept brought in sefer Adir B’Marom (written by the Ramchal). Now that we are after the sin, we need Yom Tov, as well as the mitzvos, in order to become close to Hashem. We have both abilities in us – we have an ability to connect with Hashem based on certain times or actions, and we also have an ability to connect to Him regardless of any time or action; to be above time.

We need both ways, and Hashem made it this way. We need both our connection to Him through time, as well as our connection to Him “above” time. To disregard time is basically denying the Torah, chas v’shalom. Yet, if we are only dependent on certain times, actions and Yom Tov in order to be close to Hashem, then we will be held back by our “I”. Thus, we need to first connect to Hashem through our “I”, and only after that can we connect to Him by going above our “I.”

Now that we have learned this, we can understand a whole different attitude about Yom Tov. We cannot come into Yom Tov only thinking about how it will renew us, because then we are depending on Yom Tov to be close to Hashem and losing our recognition of how Hashem doesn’t need anything.

The concept we have discussed here will be understood more and more as we continue throughout our Avodas Hashem. We have only laid the map here that we need to have: where our “I” fits in to all this, and where our nullified state must come into the picture.

The words here need a lot of explanation, and we have only said the roots. It is hoped here that they be of help to those who fear Hashem and think about His existence – with the help of Hashem.